What's In My Book Bag?

United Tweets of America -- A New Way to Learn about the States

Well, this is a new one.  Do you remember learning about your state in elementary school and wondering how they came up with the state bird, motto, etc.?  I just knew I had to share this book as soon as I found it.  It's called United Tweets of America: 50 State Birds Their Stories, Their Glories by Hudson Talbott.  Each state has a drawing of the state with the capital and motto.  Also included are a comical drawing of the state bird and fun facts about each state.  This is one of the most entertaining ways to learn about the states (through their state birds).

 

No One Saw -- Everyday Items as the Subject of Art

No One Saw is another title by Bob Raczka. In this one he uses the theme of everyday items as they are depicted in art. Amazingly, he uses many of the artists names for his rhyming text. 

I would use this book to encourage your budding little artists.  An important message of the book is that each artist views the world in his or her own unique way. 

At the end of this book, Raczka gives us a few sentences about each of the artists.  Some of the facts are quite interesting.

 

More Than Meets the Eye: Seeing Art With All Five Senses

As you know from some of my previous posts, I am definitely not an expert in art.  But I am a new fan of the books by Bob Raczka.  He has a way of making works of art interesting and entertaining to the inexperienced.  The latest book I've picked up is   More Than Meets The Eye: Seeing Art With All Five Senses (Bob Raczka's Art Adventures).  In this book Raczka uses the five senses (see, smell, hear, taste, touch) as his theme for discovering art.  He combines this theme with a rhyming text that makes this picture book additionally appealing. 

I suggest reading through the book once to enjoying the rhyme but then to go back and discuss with your child the painting and the corresponding text.  I would even recommend this for an older elementary school discussion because some of the paintings can be sort of abstract.

As in previous books, Raczka also includes a section at the back of the book to give us a fun fact about the artists included.

 

Growing Up With Tamales

Growing Up With Tamales / Los tamales de Ana (English and Spanish Edition) by Gwendolyn Zepeda looks at how a child grows up participating in a family tradition.  In this case, the making of tamales at Christmas time.  The story is told from the younger sister's point of view.  Each stage of her life is shown by how she helps with the tamales but she has an older sister and she can see how in a few short years she will have a new role in her family's tradition.  Each page has the text in both English and Spanish and even the biographical information about the author and the illustrator is written in both English and Spanish.

This is a good book for families who share the tradition of making tamales at Christmas.  It is also a wonderful book for children who want to learn about how other children celebrate at Christmas.  Since the text is written in both English and Spanish it would also be good for children who have one as their native language and may be learning the other (although in this case I would recommend reading the whole section on the page in one language and then the whole section in the other since the order that words are written and spoken in each of the respective languages are different from the other).

Oranges for Christmas

I first picked up Christmas Oranges (Christmas Books) retold by Linda Bethers because it reminded me of the many Christmases when I would find an orange in the bottom of my Christmas stocking.  If you don't know the story it is a beautiful story about love and giving.  It also shows how when everyone gives a little it can turn into something big.  Parents should be warned there is discussion of death and a scary orphanage.  Pick up some oranges to share with your children as you read them this story.  Make it one of your family traditions.

Christmas City -- It's a Book, It's a Game

Christmas City Book and Audio CD Set (A Look Again Book) by Michael Garland is a fun Christmas book.  The drawings are fun and the story is fine but what really makes this book special are all of the hidden pictures and messages throughout the book.  This would keep a kid busy for a while.  In fact, they even encourage you to gather a paper and pencil in order to keep track of what you find.  The beginning of the book has a clue list in rhyme but if you have trouble finding everything there is a list at the back of the book.  The only thing this book doesn't have is a key to show you where the items are that you might have missed.

A Small Christmas -- with an Unexpected Santa's Helper

A Small Christmas by Wong Herbert Yee is a fun Christmas tale told in rhyme about the time that Santa Claus needed a rest and a small fireman took his place.  Or was it a dream?  Interestingly enough, Fireman Small and Santa appear to be the only people.  All of the rest of the town's inhabitants are animals who act like people. 

 

 

Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl S. Buck

Since it is getting close to Christmas and the Children's Classics group over at 5 Minutes for Books has chosen Christmas as the theme for this week I thought I would include some suggestions here.

My first book, and one I recommend with reservations, is Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl S. Buck.  I would suggest parents might want to read it first because it does discuss the death of a parent (very briefly) which may be upsetting.  I do like this story, though, because it really encourages older children to really think about giving a gift that would really be helpful to someone.  If you get a chance to read this story I would be interested in hearing what you think.

 

Unlikely Pairs -- In Art, 1 + 1 = ?

If you're enjoying these art books by Bob Raczka, you might want to pick up Unlikely Pairs (Bob Raczka's Art Adventures).  In this book he takes two pieces of art that he feels you would most likely never see next to each other in a museum and places them next to each other on the pages.  Then he encourages us to sit and look at these two pieces together -- unrelated but somehow linked.  As I have said in previous posts I am not an art expert by any means, but I did find this book entertaining.  I would think it would be good for discussion.  It might even be interesting to look at the pieces separately by covering one page with a blank piece of paper before looking at them together.  I know many I had not seen before and I would have looked at them differently if they were not physically next to each other.

There is also a fun fact about each artist or art piece at the end of the book.

Where In The World?: Around the Globe in13 Works of Art -- Travel The Globe with Your Kids Through Art

Where in the World?: Around the Globe in 13 Works of Art (Bob Raczka's Art Adventures) is another book by Bob Raczka.  This time he teaches us art by showing us different art pieces from around the world.  Obviously this is not a complete study since he only covers 13 pieces but it still was an interesting book.  One of my favorite pieces of art in this book was a map of the world by Alighiero E Boetti where each country looked like its flag.  At the end of the book there is a world map where the author marked the places that were represented by the artists in this book.